News
On March 24, Argentina commemorated the 40th anniversary of the military coup that lasted until 1983 and constituted a deep trauma in Argentina’s national history. Local member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and ecumenical organizations expressed their solidarity with the victims and stressed the importance of keeping the memory alive.
The Argentine government estimates that 13,000 people were killed or “disappeared” — abducted and never heard from again — during the military rule.
A statement signed by Bishop Frank de Nully Brown, Evangelical Methodist Church of Argentina, remembered the inconsolable suffering of Argentinean mothers and grandmothers, and their pilgrimage to regain their grandchildren. “The memory of our past commits us to continue the search for truth with justice that will bring peace,” reads the statement.
The Evangelical Church of the River Plate (IERP) also published a statement about the manifestations around the 40 years of the military coup.
“After 40 years, the Argentinean people are turning such a dark date into an opportunity to commemorate a day of memory, truth and justice, the key to a peaceful society. We remain convinced that our claim for memory, truth and justice is both evangelical and prophetic,” reads the message signed by IERP’s communication officer Rev. Eugenio Albrecht.
Speaking on the massive march held in the Plaza de Mayo on 24 March, WCC Central Committee member, Ana Maria Velilla de Medio, from the Evangelical Church of the Disciples of Christ in Argentina, said that it reflected the deep the memory of the Argentine people. “It was a very good opportunity for us to honour the memory of all those who are not here today, of all those who dreamed of a more just and more free country and to reinforce the work of all ecumenical bodies, national and international, that struggled to defend human rights,” she said.
In the run-up of the commemorations and the visit of the US head of state, the Argentinean Commission for Refugees and Migrants (CAREF) issued a press release announcing the development of a project to improve the conditions of storage, organization and access to existing documentation of the historical archives. "The preservation and transmission of memory, along with the search for truth and demand justice are the pillars of a democracy that says nevermore dictatorships in South America,” said CAREF’s coordinator Gabriela Ligouri.
CAREF was created in 1973 by the Protestant churches in Argentina together with the WCC and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Much of the effort to keep memory alive in Argentina is owed to the advocacy work done by local churches, ecumenical organizations and human rights campaigners, like the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, a human rights organization with the goal of finding children stolen and illegally adopted during the military rule.
WCC member churches in Latin America
In Argentina, WCC general secretary affirms call for pilgrimage of justice and peace (WCC press release of 27 August 2015)
